Amidst forecasts calling for 46° weather with humidity, festival regulars were somewhat weary for once to venture out to the island. While the island on a hot summer day is quite the experience, the expected heatwave temperatures had people a little hesitant to leave their air conditioned condos for more than a few hours. Luckily, the weather report ended up being a little inaccurate. The island breezes and proximity to water seemed to counteract the heat that was being distributed everywhere else in the city. The result: a day packed with good music, good beats, and good energy all around.
Not to be outdone by the weather, every DJ on the lineup came with their fair share of heat for their respective fans. The day started a little more upbeat and bouncy with Billy Kenny’s tech house. Electric Island has been expanding to include a more commercial audience lately, and the Dirtybird DJ brought music that wasn’t too underground for a first timers ear. Jackmaster kept things lighter as well, but also set up the Martinez Brothers to take over later on in his set. From there both the Martinez Brothers and Anna delivered the songs their fans expected from them and took the crowd into the night, and possibly the after party.
Over on the side local DJs Andy Cue, Brian Johnson, Jeremy Stott, threw down killer sets leading into the sunset. No.19 label mistress Jade then took over for some groovy deep tech which shook the crowd. It should be worth noting that all of the mentioned DJs including Jade, who has had high profile bookings across the pond all over Europe, were listed as “Local DJs” in an Electric Island facebook post. While possibly a hasty mistake Electric Island should still recognize these DJs as more than opening acts, especially Jade who is from Toronto but is no longer considered ‘a local DJ’ by many. Robert Babicz closed things nicely, and even had some people leave the main stage to come over and groove.
Overall the weather ended up being pleasant, the event a success, and another good day of island grooves was recorded in the books. The next one is taking place on August 11th, tickets available here.
